PAP~:<:Rs AND PRoCE::8DJNGS OF THE ROYAL Sf.tf"IETY oF , VoLUME 9:3

WILLIAM BUELOW GOULD--CONVICT ARTIST IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND

By

!SABELLA MEAD*

(With 1 Plate)

When I came first to the Launceston Museum I brought to Van Diemen's found very many paintings by a convict named Land. He writes of him:- Gould. Very soon visitors were asking me questions about him and I proceeded to read what had been " This poor wretch is another example of the written. It seemed very little. In fact, it amounted baneful effects produced by gambling. He to the notes that had been put together by Mr. has been a pupil of Mulreadys-his true name Henry Allport for an exhibition of Tasmanian art is Holland-his friends residing in Stafford are held in in 1931. These notes were published chinaware manufacturers. in the " Mercury " newspaper and then put together He got into a gambling set in Liverpool, lost in pamphlet form. Every subsequent writer on his money and to redeem it and being fond Gould has used them. of play he got initiated and became a regular When people said, however," vVhen was he born? member of the set of sharpers. When did he die? Was he marri.ed? Did he leave In the course of his practices he came to any family? Did he paint only in oil?", I had to London and was at one time intimate with reply, "I do not know." I am still not certain when the notorious Thurthill, the murderer, and he was born, but I know when he died. all his gang. When people asked, "Where did Gould live?", He painted at times for Ackerman in the I said, vaguely, "Hobart . Then, one day, looking Strand and got for some petty through some records in the Museum, I found that theft which his vices and necessities drove William Buelow Gould was before R. C. Gunn,t him to commit . Magistrate, here in Launceston, for being drunk. In an attempt to verify this story which Gould So he wa:sn't only in Hobart. He was also in Laun­ tqld, a letter was written to the Royal Academy ceston and, I found later, at , at of Arts who were unable to illuminate the story at Port Arthur, at Bridgewater, and at Jericho. all. , RA., taught drawing Then-Vvas he married? Did l:w have a family? throughout his life, but as far as is known, no Yes. Did he paint only in oil? No, he used list of his pupils exists. Ackerman came to London watercolour too, much more effectively than he as a coach designer, opened a print shop, and did oiL published numerous illustrated books. So I got. together gradually some kind of picture J?r. C. Craig has in his possession an oil painting of this early artist. winch suggests very strongly the Ackerman influ­ Of Gould's early life very little is still known. ence. Actually his name was Holland, not Gould. Tradition says also that Gould worked at flower He was born in Liverpool. Who his parents were at Spodes. Spodes that it is likely is not known, for births were not at did have some of training Somerset House until 1837 and even were with them and an examination of native not obligatory; but an entry in Gore's Liverpool .flowers which Gould did in Tasmania reminds one Directory of 1805, which reads "Peter Holland, immediately of exquisite china. But Spades also Drawing Master", is suggestive. that their records were few between 1770 Was Peter Holland, drawing Gould's also, as they were not considered of historical value, father? He was probably educated a local they were destroyed. grammar school for he could read and write, an It was Josiah Spade who, in England, perfected accomplishment rare amongst convicts 150 years bone china about the year 1805. This china was ago. more translucent than anything which had been Further details are given in the diary of Robert produced previously and was very suitable for Francis Martin, 1st Officer in the ship which decoration. To Josiah Spode England owed the

Museum, I..a.un('f~ston, Tasmania~ 1·ead this paper- to the Royal Soeiety

81 ILS.G 82 WILLIAM BlJELOW GOULD-·CO,'/Vl~'T ARTIST' IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND great reputation she obtained as being the only and arms stolen one coat •·. The sentence was country manufacturing this beautifully decorated " seven years beyond the seas ". type of porcelain. He had a previous conviction for stealing So here we have a man--educated, probably "colours", presumably painter's colours. The apprenticed to Spode;s, learning their exquisite charge for stealing the coat was felony and, unfor­ brushwork a,nd the use of colour. Then, learning tunately for Gould, this year, 1826, was the last from Mulre~tdy, who taught drawing and exhibited year when petty larcenJj was felony. at the R<)Yal Academy, then for Ackerman, 1:Jntil he was due to leave Gould was who settled in the Strand and art litho- detained in the hulks Dolphin York. Here he in England. So Gould should have stayed from November tili the following August-- Diemen's Land a rich inheritance-all nine months-when he was to Van Diemen's he had learnt from Josiah Spode, the finest of china Land in the Asia 3. This was second ship of manufacturers, and from Rudolf Ackerman, the this name to leave England for this countrv within finest printer and art producer of his time. a month. This Asia was square-sails on Why did Gould come to Van Diemen's Land? its three masts, and was of tons, built Calcutta about 1311. She left Portsmouth on the 17th The beginning of the trouble was probably when August, 182'1, with 200 male convicts in the charge he went to London, made the wrong friends, and of Captain Boscawen. The Asia came again in got in with the notorious 'l'hurthill. John Thurt" 1841 and 1847. There were, altogether, three ships hill was tried for murder in 1823 and when he was named Asia. arrested the authorities also arrested any of his associates they could find. At least three were Gould was probably pleased when the actual day tried and everyone in sight was examined. Perhaps of sailing came. We do not know what his actual Gould became frightened at this time and left feelings were as he saw England for the last time. London, going back to his friends in the pottery but a. general description of the departure has beeri counties, hoping they would help him to find given by the First Officer of the Asia 3, whose diary work; but perhaps, too, they were too frightened is still extant. He writes: Some cast a tearful to be associated with him after his life in London. eye and melancholy look", some "were too busy squabbling for rations that they did not seem to Unable to find work he found himself transported care ", and "others were lying in the sun tallcing to Van Diemen's Land, leaving behind him a wife in slang gibberi::;h of their many adventures". and two children in Burslem. The departure was witnessed by the Russian Let us look at the portrait of William Buelow Squadron lying at anchor in the English Channel. Gould which hangs in the Tasmanian Museum.* The Russian Squadron was awaiting orders from This portrait shows him as quite a well dressed the British Government to proceed to the Mediter­ man-about-town and was painted probably about ranean to help England help the Greeks against 1845 when Gould was 45 or 46 years of age. Since Turkey in the Greek War of Liberation. we have in the archives an official description of In ten days some of the convicts had become him about this time, let us read it in conjunction troublesome-sauciness being their chief misde­ with the portrait:- meanour. At the end of a fortnight the matter Head, large, long; forehead, low; eyes, grey; was more serious. A conspiracy was planned to complexion, sallow; hair, dark-brown; visage, take the ship, set the Captain and Officers adrift, narrow; eyebrows, dark-brown; chin, small; and to sail for some part of South America. nose, aquiline. Reminiscent of Bligh, twenty years before. The Let us turn back to the time of his arrival in Van plot justified the statement of the Portsmouth Diemen's Land twenty years earlier. These records paper which wrote of the Asia's departure-" 200 show that Gould's convict number was 521. He worse characters never left the country". was five feet five inches in height, age 26, a painter William Buelow Gould took no part in these by trade. His native place was Liverpool. intrigues. During the voyage out, C~ould was evi­ On the 7th November, 1826, after being in the dently quite busy. He was entered on the ship's 'Town Gaol .for three months, he had been charged papers as a portrait painter and the officers were at the Northampton Quarter Sessions "with .force having their likenesses taken by him. Officer Alsop was the first--sitting in full tog. But after four *In previous literature, espedally Early Art in Tasmania days Mr. Alsop was dissatisfied with the (Henry Allport, 19;:31) ; The Story o-f' Australian Art (William Moore. 1981) ; Origins of in Tasmania (Rm;amond A. V. result, especially when his hirn on McCuJJoeh, 1948) ; and A of Australian Art {HerbeTt E, the caricature. Then the purser, had his Badham, 1 D49), this called VVdUa.m BarlouJ (;ould, portrait painted. Two days later this was finished but a.l1 :records show· to be a phonetical mistake. and judged by fellow officers to be a tolerably good was never rna.de by Lhe Tasmanian one. Ursula Hoff, National Ga,liery, M.elbouTne, No. 40, Vol. X, No. 2, uses the in he·r notes on the Jubilee I

Gould then began what the men on board con­ every attention to their respective duties" and sidered his best portrait, that of Captain Boscawen, the Governor, Sir George Arthur, paid them some the military captain in charge of the conviets. high compliments on the health and cleanliness Unfortunately, we do not know what has become of the men. of these portraits. but presumably some of these of Although Gould's conduct was exemplary on the the ship's officers would find their way back to voyage (his report reads "Conduct again good"), England. it appears that his criine merited employment on During the voyage, as well as painting portraits, public works and not assignment, so, after being Gould did flower studies and most of the officers his Gs. 10d. which had been retained for him agreed that he did his best work in this medium, the voyage by Surgeon-Lieutenant Fairfowl, and posterity has affirmed this. he was sent to the Brickfields. A set of these flower studies was done for Dr. This is a different occupation to that of painting, Fairfowl and one, a tulip, for the First Officer but there is a connection, and here it seems to have been understood that had had On his arrival in Hobart Town Gould had with previous experience in potteries. him one drawing box, length 1 foot I inch, breadth Within a few weeks of his arrival we find that 9 inches, depth 7 inches. the Colonial Engineer, John Lee Areher, is asking On Friday, the 7th December, 1827, after nearly for permission for William Gould (No. 521 per four months at sea, the Asia 3 was nearing its Asia :3) and another conviet to sleep at the Brick­ journey's end and entered D'Entrecasteaux Chan­ fields Hut so as to attend the "pottery oven occa­ nel. The run through the channel was delightful sionally at night". This request was submitted to those on board, with its picturesque bays and to the Lieutenant-Governor who ascertained that, coves and high mountains in the background. up till 28th January, 1828, that is for six weeks Here and there was a cleared patch of land with after his disembarkation, Gould " hath not any the cottage or bark hut of a settler. offence recorded against him". At six o'clock that Friday night they anchored Two days later however, on the 30 January, the near Battery Point. Principal Superintendent was obliged to note on the Certificate of Gould's good conduct that Gould Mr. O'Farrel, the Naval Officer, was first on was now in the Chain Gang charged with being board for reports. Mr. Rollo O'Farrell is, I think, drunk and that " he is a useful man to the Engineer an interesting character. He had been appointed in the new pottery, but I conceive he is a man of Naval Officer by Earl Bathurst in 1825. Governor very bad character". Arthur said he was ignorant of business of kind and Rollo O'Farrell, who sounds an The particular offence that brought forth this adventurer, said he had come to Hobart Town statement was that on the 21st January he was in expecting to run down smugglers, not to do an a public house called "The Jolly Sailor", then office job. However, he appears to have been very situated in Goulburn Street, Hobart Town, in a attentive to duty on this day. state of intoxication after 9 o'clock on a Saturday night (perhaps spending his 6s. lOdJ and the At 5 a.m. the next morning, Mr. Kelly, the penalty was 14 days with the Chain Gang. Harbourmaster, came on board. Then Captain It would appear that Gould had become an Montague, Deputy Colonial Secretary, and Mr. habitual drinker and during the next few years we Lakeland, Principal Superintendent of convicts, find that he is continually before the authorities. mustered the prisoners and inquired as to their His subsequent dossier states that on-· receiving good treatment and full rations during the voyage. There were no complaints and the 17th June, 1828, he is committed for stealing appearance of the convicts was very much praised a silver watch, the property of Maria Sar­ by the colonial officers. The Historical Records jeant. Pleaded guilty. say: " 198 prisoners in a clean and healthy condi­ 24th June, 1828, he is convicted foT the above tion were disembarked". offence. Sentence, 7 years, to be served concurrently with his present sentence. This embarkation took from Monday to Thurs­ 20th June, 1829, while employed on public day. works he is tried for passing a forged note of the Derwent Bank and subsequently des­ These convicts were found to be a very valuable troying it to avoid detection. Sentence, 3 set, most of them being from farm labouring­ years to Macquarie Harbour. · men much wanted in the colony. This is interest­ ing when compared with the English report that At this time the brig Cyprus was employed in "200 worse characters never left the country". taking convicts to Macquarie Harbour. It was in her that Gould sailed on the 28th July, 1829, Of the3e 200 prisoners who embarked, 198 landed and became one of the figures in a world-known safely at Hobart Town after a trip of nearly four piracy. months, during which time there had been mutiny and very high seas. Of these 198 convicts, 171 were The trip was unfortunate from the beginning. assigned to the service of settlers, 23 were employed The ship was detained eight days at Recherche to the public works, and four were invalids. Gould Bay. On the ninth day she drove from her was to be employed on public works. anchors and put back to refit at Hobart Town. She then returned to to picl< up her The official account of the arrival of the ship anchors and was again weather bound. During says: " The surgeon superintendent, Mr. Fairfowl. this time a conspiracy was planned. Here we are and the Master, Mr. Ager, appear to have paid only concerned with Gould's part in it. 84 WILLIAM BUJ<>LOW GOULD--CONVI'CT ARTIST IN VAN DIEMEN'S T"AND

There were 31 convicts on board, all in double fortunate that he was for, apart from the artistic irons. Fourteen of these did not join the mutineers quality of his work, he has given us a very clear and were put ashore, together with the captain, photographic picture of how Macquarie Harbour crew and the officers in charge of the convicts. looked at this time. In organised attempts to obtain help, one party In the "Penal Settlements of Van Diemen's of five, including Gould, set off for the Huon River. Land, Macquarie Harbour, , and Tas­ They were later picked up in a state of exhaustion man's Peninsula" by Thomas James Lempriere, by a search party when they were twelve miles from reprinted by the Royal Society of Tasmania (North­ its mouth. ern Branch) 1954, p. 13, is found a detailed and Back in Hoba,rt Town, five weeks later, on the interesting account of the work of Captain Butler, 4th September, 1829, these five prisoners presented Commandant, 1825-9. a memorial to Governor George Arthur praying hi.m Lempriere tells us that Captain Butler left noth­ to " look into our case and be pleased to grant ing to his successors to perform and it is interesting what indulgences your Excellency may think best". to compare his description of the Settlement with The specific report on Gould says, "This man wa·:o detailed watercolours by Gould, the originals of particularly quiet and orderly". Governor Arthur which are held by the Mitchell Library. said, the 7th October, 1929: "I have considered These watercolours came to the Mitchell Librarv in council the cases of the prisoners who, being wHh the G. A. Robinson Collection. They are clear· ordered to be moved to Maequarie Harbour by in colour and detail and the drawing is exact in the Cyprus were put ashore when the vessel was the then topographical style. seized by the convicts, and looking to the import­ ance of holding out encoura.gement to good conduct Here I would like to refer to two other sketches in the prisoners under such circumstances of by Gould which also came back to as temptation as this mutiny . . . will approve of part of the G. A. Robinson Collection. One is of their being disposed of in the following manner". "Towtrer ", signed vV. B. Gould Del., and the other Most were to be assigned, including Gould. is of a group of six aborigines. In both ot" these sketches the aborigines are wrapped in white Gould's assignment was to Dr. Scott, of Boa shrouds. Vista. Dr. James Scott, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, was appointed as Colonial Surgeon to the G. A . .Robinson, Conciliator of the Aborigines, settlements on the Derwent in January, 1821. In was at Macquarie Harbour early in 1833 and June of the same year he was married at St. David's to have called there several times during Church by the Rev. Robert Knopwood to Lucy Commandant Baylee was, however, so Margaretta, the only child of Lieutenant-Governor down the settlement that he appears Davey. little time to report fully on Robin­ movement·3. Robinson was, at this time, It would appear that Gould was favoured in this i.n the aborigines prior to their removal assignment to such a prominent citizen in Hobart Island. Town, but habitual drunlcenness and the inevitable absence from work did not earn for him hi.s On the 20th June Robinson arrived back from master's approbation. In May, he was sent back one of his excursions, with him " seven to the Barracks. the last of Lhe Davey Tribe". Baylee wrote to Mr. Burnett, Colo­ Successive admonitions and reprimands on the nial Secretary, advising him that these would be part of Dr. Scott bore no fruit and Gould soon embarked on board the brig Tamar for Hobart found himself in cells on bread and water, Town via Port Arthur. It was probably at this lashed, at the treadmill, doing hard labour, and time that Gould's drawings were done, for he the hulk chain gang. returned to Hobart Town on the same trip of the There is a monotony about the offences-drunk­ Tamar as G. A. Robinson and the aborigines. enness, drunkenness, and being out after hours, drunkenness on Saturday and Sunday, absent with­ Some of the best of Gould's work which I have out leave, absent without leave and going on the seen is this which he di.d at. Maequarie Harbour. Derwent River without authority, absent it was one of the few times when liquor without leave and found street in the com~ was to obtain and one report does say that of a female servanL-·--for this he was to be he was sent to paint the place. in the Prisoners' Barracl<::s for three Mr. Henry Allport, of has a most delight­ months. ful sketch. book of t.he fish shellfish found at Time and again he was returned to Dr. Scott, Harbour. As Mr Allport " Each but hardly a month goes by the two years of water art", tha.t. he is with Dr. Scott but io before the by Gould, have Magistrate. obviously been done by the same hand, and on Gould's continual drunkennes;; and the resultant several pages there is a pencil note s,t the bot­ bad behaviour became too much for the Auth­ tom, "Dr. de Little, Macquarie Harbour". orities and on the 7th September, 1832, three years Mr. Allport tells me, also, that a series of after his :first trip, he sailed, by order of His nal;ive and native flowers in a sketch book, Excellency Governor Arthur, for the second time pos13lbly painted by W. B. Gould, was sold in Hobart to Macquarie Harbour. about 1890. At Macquarie Harbour where, officially, Gould The late W. B. Beattie said that he had seen one appears to have been the servant of Dr. de Little, of these sketch books and that i.t was then owned he was employed mostly at drawing, We are by a woman in New South \Vales. !SABELLA MEAD 85

An oil painting, "Macquarie Harbour", in the With this certificate, William Buelow Gould came Tasmanian Museum, was probably painted at this north to Launceston and entered into written time also. After nine months here, Gould was agreement with Henry Palmer. Henry Palmer was a sent back to Hobart Town in the brig Tamar on the coachbuilder, at first in Elizabeth Street, Launces­ 22nd June, 1333. In the accompanying list of ton. and then, from 1834 onwards, in York Street. prisoners signed by the Commandant, the entry referring to Gould reads:- In return for the stipulated wages, clothing, No. 521; Name, William Gould; Ship from food, &c., Gould undertook to paint armorial decor­ Europe, Asia; How employed, Drawing, &c. ations on the carriages of the wealthy merchants Remarks: Returned to Hobart Town, having and landlords of Launceston Town. Having worked completed the work he was sent down for. for Ackerman he would be very familiar with this work. There seems to have been some lack of co-opera­ tion between Hobart Town and Macquarie Harbour This arrangement, however, lasted but two or on this point, for the Governor's comments on three days and his employer, evidently very dis­ "what Gould was sent down for" are "Gould is tressed at losing labour, then hard to get, especially a very drunken and dangerous person to be in for such a specialised job as armorial painting, Town." He was not sent to Macquarie Harbour threatened in a public notiee in the Launceston to do any work, but was to be removed there for "Advertiser" to have a warrant issued for his being drunken and dangerous. By His Excellency's arrest if he did not return. This reads as follows:- Order, "He shouid be removed to Port Arthur", " Whereas, a man named William Gould, by and then comes Governor Arthur's reproof: " In the trade a painter, and artist, recently from event of any men being sent up without instruction, Hobart Town, with a .. be so good as to refer to the Principal Superinten­ entered into a written agreement to serve the dent for his opinion how they should be disposed undersigned for a period of six months, on of". Initialled G.A., 19th July. stipulated wages, and after obtaining a con­ Commandant Baylee complained frequently that siderable advance in new clothing, &c., abscon­ he had received "no instructions". When Dr. de ded a fortnight ago, having remained only a Little, Gould's master, arrived he was not put in few days in his employment. Now, this is to charge of the hospital and surgical stores as he give notice, that any person in whose employ­ thought he would be because Baylee said he " had ment he may be found, will be proceeded received no instructions". But communications against according to law, and should this meet between Macquarie Harbour and Hobart Town were his eye he is hereby informed that if he does few. When James Backhouse arrived there he was not immediately return to perform his engage­ given a great welcome, for they had had no news of ment a warrant will be issued for his appre­ Hobart 'Town for more than three months. hension, Henry Palmer, So the following month finds Gould at Port Launceston, Arthur ("this man should be removed to Port October, 14, 1835 ". Arthur "J. He arrived there on the 16th August, 1833, in the Government brig Isabella. "Launceston Advertiser", 22nd October, 1335. In a return six months later, 31st March, 1834, Gould did return and the following month, on Gould is listed as house servant to the Assistant the 21st November, 1835, when the ", Surgeon, Thomas Coke Brownell. or Norwood Vale", a melodrama. written by Henry Thomas Coke Brownell was replaced by John Melville, was played in Launceston for the first McBraire in July of the same year, and probably time, Gould is featured as the artist who has done Gould was transferred t:::> him. We do not know the scenic painting. what opportunities Gould had for painting at Port Dr. E. Morris Miller in " Pressmen and Gover­ Arthur, for O'Hara Booth's discipline was very nors", 1952, p. 50, has given us a description of strict, but a note referring to two of Gould's fish this melodramatic play. It is the first dramatic studies in the Beattie Catalogue says, " These were piece on an Australian theme printed and published painted by Gould when he was at Port Arthur". by an author living in Australia and was played Mr. Sharman, State Archivist, has worked in Launceston. It was really a play of one act, through the lists of convicts at Port Arthur during divided into three with thirteen scenes. A settler this period, through the Commandant's letters for­ is attacked by bushrangers but is saved by his warding convicts back and acknowledging the daughter's lover, of whom he has previously disap­ arrival of convicts, and through the Returns of proved, and a native. Punishments, but, apart from Gould's assignment to Thomas Coke Brownell, his name is not men­ The advertisement in the " Cornwall Chronicle " tioned. says: " In the course of the piece wi.ll be exhibited Gould would normally have received his freedom an applicable and well-known scenic view of in 1334, his original sentence being for seven years, 'Molly York's Night Cap at Sunset ', painted by but, because of the concurrent sentence passed upon Mr. Gould, an eminent Colonial Artist. Done him in the Supreme Court for stealing a silver expressly for this occasion ". watch eighteen months after his arrival, the certi­ A little money in his pocket, however, and Gould ficate was not issued until the 25th June, 1835, fell in with the bad companions who frequented which would mean that he was at Port Arthur one or other of the old pubs then in Brisbane for nearly two years. The late J. W. Beattie says Street. Not, I think, Dickey White's, but more that he received his "Certificate of Freedom" at probably the Currency House which was pulled Port Arthur. down soon after, or the Joiner's Arms. 86 WILLIAM BUELOW GOULD-CONVIt~T ARTIS'J' IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND

On New Year's Day, Gould was evidently eele~ It may be noted here that the many examples brating too well and was found drunk in Brisbane of Gould's work held by the Queen Victoria Museum, Street, arrested and taken to the local watch­ Launeeston, Tasmania, were collected by the late house which stood then on the present site of J. W. Beattie and came to Launceston when the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, at the corner collection was purchased by the Launceston City of St. Jo1lh and Paterson Streets. Council in 1936. He resented this bitterly, and after much kicking In spite of this period seemingly being Gould's and shouting for the Chief Constable he was hand­ most prolific in painting, it was not hie; best. and cuffed and chained by Constable ,John Williams. it is hard to know how he supported his wife and Constable Williams says briefly in his charge: He family. Virtually it would have been impossible was drunk". for him to do so by painting, especially as tradition Next day he was brought before the his paintings were taken by publicans in lieu Ronald Campbell Gunn, found guilty, payment of his drink bilL five shilljngs. (This is the charge .found in the By the middle of the 40's Gould is again in Records o£ the Museum. J trouble with the authorities. In July, 1845, he is Immediately on this he decided to shake the convicted of stealing a musical snuff· box, ·valued dust of Launceston from 'neath his feet and his at £:3, again the kind of theft a drunken man employer, Henry Palmer, reported to the 1\!Iagistrate would commit. .For this he was given two years' on the 4th January that Gould was last seen four imprisonment but again his term is commuted to or five miles out on the Paterson's Plains Road six months, this time by the Lieutenant-Governor, (now St. Leo nards) on his way to the country, Sir Eardley-Wilmot. taking with him money that he had collected for In spite of this preferential treatment, little his employer. more than twelve months elapse before he is again The police apprehended him on the 26th Febru­ in trouble. This time it is for stealing a pair of ary-nearly two months later-and sent for his razors valued at 2s. 6d. He was tried in the employer. Henry Palmer said he was too busy to Supreme Court and sentenced to two years' hard come that day for "he was attending on a gentle­ labour. man and that a night's lodging would do Gould This sentence evidently left his wife and family no harm". When the case was heard, on the destitute and the necessitous state of Mrs. Gould 3rd March, evidently Gould had had more than led her to petition the .Lieutenant-Governor, now one night's lodging, it was dismissed, the Prosecu­ Sir , for help. She says "That tor, Henry Palmer, stating he was in error. (she) petitioner is left wholly destitute with five By now Gould had almost completed his six children without any means of support months service with Palmer whicl1 had have since that period Cthe imprisonment of begun on the 12th and the parting her husband) been depending on the benevolent was probably mutuaL being in Laun- hand of a humane and generous public and ceston, he returned, evidently, to haunts petitioner has since been allowed a weekly donation in Hobart Town, but immediately upon his arrival of 2s. from the Benevolent Dorcas Society, which back, perhaps celebrating his return, with his last gratuity has ceased and was petitioner's principal pay, he was in trouble. Again the charge is dependence whose helpless family are now left larceny, probably a drunk.en misdemeanour for, without a home to suiTer the pinching pangs of after being tried in the Supreme Court.. he was starvation . . May they (the Legislative Council) found "not guilty". be mercifully pleased to some In December of this year (1836), nine years allowance for the of five of Her LV><>J"""J' after his arrival in Van Diemen's Land, he, as helpless and starving subjects without whose William Buelow, bachelor took unto himself a wife, ance must inevitably perish". one Reynolds, . The banns were This petition is by letters from E. A. called he was in Old Church, Brown, 28 Patrick ,J. T. Butler, J. H. Hobart, the parish Philip Old and J. Street, the Trinity is now of 24 Mrs. Gould lived. has not revealed Number 24 Street stood as part of ehildren left in ""'ll!O'"'".u 'Wilmot a few years ago. before, but Van Diemen's was a of reprieves during other terms away and news travelled very slowly, appears to have this After "his marriage, Gould sentence and was kept at labour at endeavoured to earn an honest and .Jericho. earned name as a This appears, to have been his last was difficult. He finds himself accused m1saeme::mour. drunkenness and then which he or may not have committed, hard labour evidently broke his constitution. Upon including a charge an engraving, for his I imagine, he around the streets which he was committed for of Hobart getting when he could" But the attempt at reformation was evidently The tradition that locked him in a sincere and for the next eight he keeps garret to for in return for a drink out of serious trouble. Most of Tasmanian probably from this period. painting which is about at the present time seems In January, Gould attended the wedding to have been done these and includes of a daughter, Buelow Gould, who married the self portrait which hung the Tasmanian Thomas Smith at St. George's Church, Battery Museum. Point, Hobart. ISABELLA MF.AD 87

But life for him was drawing to a close, and his Diemen's Land from February, 1832, to November, end was miserable. Perhaps, like his contemporary, 1834, and again from April to November, 183?. How Thomas Griffiths ·wainwright. he had been brought .James Backhouse came to name them is not quite up in an artistic atmosphere where hulks, tread­ clear but there is evidence that he and Gould trav­ mills, chain gangs and hard labour were unknown. elled roads that converged quite often. William Buelow Gould, or Holland, died in his Clive Turnbull, in his introduction to the ,Jubilee late forties or early fifties on the 11th December, Exhibition of Australian Art say;;: " Gould's skilful 1853, in Macquarie Street. The cause of death is and often extremely attractive still lifes reminded "natural causes". An obituary notice in the the coloni:sts of an older and more settled civiliza­ ''Hobart Town Daily Courier··, when such notices tion". The Gould exhibited in the Jubilee Exhibi­ for other than the wealthy wore rare, read:-- tion was the Still Life Study of F'lowers and Pruit " On the llth instant, at his residence, Mac­ held by Sir Lloyd Jones. This was also included in quarie Street, Mr. William Burow Gold, aged the Exhibition which was sent to the United 49 years. The funeral will take place on Wed­ States and Canada in 1941. In it Gould shows an nesday next at 3 o'clock. F'riends at a distance almost simple minded delight in colour and texture. will please accept this notice. His use of blue is also artistic and reminds one of Monday, December 12, 1853 '. the blue of the Dutch artists. I would suggest to you that, although the life Arnold Shore says that this Dutch influence is of William Buelow Gould is a pitiful story of very evident in Gould's still life studies, and I think cruelty, hardness, sorrow and waste, brought about that all artists would agree on this point. It is time and time again by his own weakness, he was very reminiscent of the still life work done in not evil. Every report, after confinement, when Holland over a century ago. Holland is unique in drink would not be available, says " quiet and having had over a century of still life painting. orderly" In conduct. Again: Conductr-jail, good; The l. 7th and 18th century was the time of the hulk, good; ship, good. Dutch overseas discovery. Seagoing merchants brought back with them new and strange fruits and Arnold Shore writes: " Gould is certainly not the flavours which were displayed by the wealthier first artist to battle between alcohol and art. classes. Artists found in these newly-discovered George Moreland, famous English farmyard pain­ fascinating forms and colours. Simple ter, finished that way. Modernist French Utrillo of fish and dead animals, particularly is another ". also gave to art patrons. This Probably being of an artistic temperament, pos- of painting much infiuence on English sibly brought in an artistic atmosphere, Gould artists popular with them. It would led a so-called life. This brought him, Gould. All his studies on his own confession, in contact w.ith evil com·· these when of the type so vividly described for us decorative touch Charles Dickens. After transportation, life in Hobart Town would This influenee could, however, not only have do little to help him. We can imagine the evenings been one of taste, but also one of racial instinct spent at the " Jolly Sailor" in Goulburn Street in coupled with his Spode training. Hobart Town in the 1830's. I would like to here that the ;o;o-called Wainwright tavern You will remember that Gould's real name was held the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston, Holland. Possibly Holland was the country of his could the work of Gould. These tavern sketches father's During the 18th century there was are typical of the types that hung around Hobart interchange in craftsmen and artists, Town at this time; these would be the who especially in the industries; also, we would be his companions as he from pub are remembering tradition. artist to pub. named Buelow might, easily sign himOlelf " van Holland " as we today sign ourselves " Australia" in a country. As such any new he would be indexed on &c. 'I'his could whole life in known as Holiand. this. kind in history. He has left flower studies As we have been unable to learn much either Miss E. M. Hugh of Gould's m of his in England. Indebted to her .for we cannot tell far he fulfUled or fell short of inelude three sketch any promise shown in his early years. Van Diemen's Land and are, as the We cannot how far he was actuallv says. " copied from nature n. influenced either the by Spodes, How such studies were done R.udolph /\.ckerman, or possibly not know, these drawn 1830-1 are father and then later of his fineness of brushwork and of a minute finish With William Buelow Gould's death in 18ti3 the which it would be difficult to excel. of early art in this land almost finished. These botanical studies are all of the early colonists who had "B.~' or H J.B.n. It is almost new colony of Van Diemen's were nam.ed James Baekhouse, turn of the mid-eentury. who was in Van Thomas Gri.filths Wainwright had died in 1847; *Since, purchased by Queeu Victoria MusE:UnJ, Launcestun. John Glover in 1849; Benjamin Duterrau in 1851: 88 WILLIAM BUELOW GOULD--CONVI'GT ARTIST IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND

George William Evans in 1852; Wllliam Buelow 3. MULHEADY. WILLIAM, 1786-1863, genre P.ainter, taught drawing, illustrated children's bonks, exhibited at Royal Gould in 1853. lived until 1855. Academy, illustrated the "Vicar of Wakefield". e. 1840. designed the first penny postage envelope issued- by Row.~ It is perhaps fitting that it should be so, for in land Hill, 1842. 1853 Van Diemen's Land began a new life as 4. ACKFJRMAN, RUDOLPH, 1764-1834. Art publisher and book­ seller. Tasmania. 5. The Jolly ,S'ailor was a Public Huuse in Goulburn Street, Hobart. In 1835 the licence was held by J:i-.:rancis WilHam Cobb. H.T.G., 8 Oct., 183fi, p. 828. 6. ARTHUR, SIR GEIORGE, Governor of Van Dierne--r1's Land, 1824~ 1836. REFERENCES. 7 ..Macquarie· Harbour, Penal Settle-ment on West Coast of Tasmania, 1824-1833. ALLPORT, HgNRY.·~Art in 'T'a..'ffnania, 1931. 8. WIL.MOT. SIR "B~ARDLEY. Governor of Van Diemen'r:; Land, Church Record.«:: Holy Trinity Church, Hoha:rt, T·asmania; St. J 84:l-l846. . George's Church, Hobart, Taslnania. 9. DF.l LITTLE. DocTOlt. Arrived in 1-Iobart ~rown in the Convir;t Records: Queen Victoria Museum~ Launeestoll, Ta..q. ; Cleornttrn in 1\tlay.• 1832 and went to Macquade Harbour State Archives Dept., Hobart, Tas. .shol'tly aflerwar.ds, succeeding Dr. Dermer~ He remained Co·unty Cou,ncU Records: Northa.mpton, Bngland. until the settlement was disbanded~ a.nd in 1834 sueceeded Robert 1827. D£ary of Francis MaTtin: Portsm,ou..th to Hobart, Dr. Sha1·land .at BothwelL In l8i18 he was found d1·owned Mss. Diary in possession of Miss Frances Hodges, f~ng­ and was buried in the Bothwell cemetery. land. 10. DHNISON, SIR WJ,'LLIAM. Governor of Van I)iemen's Land, II'istorical Records Hobart Tow--n Dail-y 1~47-1855. 11. BOOTH, CHARLES O'HARA. Commandant Port Arthur, 1'833. _Launceston Adt•ertiser,. l 844. MILLE'lt, E.. MOltRIS. 12. Port Arthur. Penal settlernent in south of Tasmania, 1830- Public Records Office, f~ondon. 1-?ecords: Reg-istrar-General's Department, Hobart, Tas. 1877. 13. SMALE.S, JOSEPH H .• was a Church of England catechist. Wh;:tfeld Index: Queen Victoria Muse•um, Launceston. Tasmania. He was appointed as a "ternporary clerk,. at 8t. David's Ohurch in 1833 and as catechist a.t T·rinity Chureh. 1. GUNN, RONALD CAMPBELL, 1808-1885, was Superintendent of Hobart, 1858. He was ordained as a deacon in 1866 Conviets, Nnrthern Division, and Police- Magistrate, 1830- "after 33, years' la,y n~inistry ". 1836. 14. MowrAGUE, JoHN, 179·7-1853. Cmne to Va:r1 Diemen's Land 2. BoscAWIDN, CAPTAIN E. P., Captain 40th :Regiment, was :in in 1823 with Governor S.ir George Arthur. Hobart Town in 1828. He sailed for Bombay with a 15-. The Brig Cy]Jrus. 1.08 tons, was purchased in August, 1826, detachment of hJs Regiment in the Roya.l George. R. by Governor Arthur for- the penal settlement of Macquarie Em_bleton, Master, 1st March, 1829. Harbour. The cost was .£1,700 sterling" I'AS.\tANIA,

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